Panera Bread — Restaurant in Ohio

This review is in no reflection of the company or menu options, but of the management and staff at this specific location. My recent experience was not pleasant. I ordered a cobb salad with no alterations using their drive-thru service. When I got back to my dwelling, it was a surprise that a cobb salad would be missing the chicken and the bacon. I called up the store location and explained the situation and stated that I would return expecting a correctly made fresh cobb salad and a refund of my bill for my time and gas.

When I arrived at the location, I was told by the shift manager that I could either get the new salad with the addition of a bakery item for my time or receive a refund. This was not acceptable to me, since I value my time and gas more than a bakery item. I then asked for a refund which I was given. During this interaction, there was no apology for the mistake or a willingness to make the situation right. As I was walking out of the store, the shift manager said loudly "Have a nice day." Why would I have a nice day after my order was made incorrectly, I drove back to have the situation fixed without resolution, and left without food that I was planning on having for dinner?

Once I was in my car, I called the corporate phone number to voice my complaint for how this situation was handled. The customer service representative was very sympathetic and apologetic for the situation. She was very friendly and did resolve the situation to my liking by offering me a gift card for the menu item that was made incorrectly. It is because of her efforts as a customer service agent that I will try a different Panera Bread location...

New update: 2025. I hate to write this, and have put it off, but the last several times I've been here have been disappointing. I keep trying, because it was one of my favorite places. The "chocolate croissants" are no longer croissants and I'm not sure you can even call that chocolate. It's very fake tasting now and they're some sort of weird folded things. They're always running out of items much earlier in the day. The prices have gone up and the flavor has gone down. Instead of being one of the first places I think of, it's now a last resort. Oh well, they're saving me money I suppose by no longer being good. Update: New years Day, 2022 This Panera is just amazing. People are wonderful here. I placed an online order, then wasn't sure if they were open, so I called about 10 minutes later. The woman who answered informed me they were out of a couple things I'd ordered, so I made a couple changes. When the order arrived, there was a very nice note in it that there was actually one of the items left which they'd thought were gone, but because of the problem, they'd included the substitution as well and added one more item. Such sweet people. I didn't expect that and it was a nice NY surprise. 2018 - Went through the drive through and purchased a triple berry scone and steelcut oatmeal with strawberries and pecans. The oatmeal was perfect. Love being able to get steelcut instead of rolled oats. Also, it was a nice amount. More than I expected. The scone was wonderful. Nice and moist with plenty of berries inside. Scones are often too dry. This was great. Service...

Went into their store, we ordered $36.80 in foor. Waited 15in to be told they don't have bread for our Grilled cheese sandwiches. So they put it on some weird looking bread. Then after they mad our sandwiches. They called us up to say they had no Turkey Chilli to serve us and what we wanted in substitute. I told them we came here for the Turkey Chilli and grilled cheese. We wasted 45 min here when I could have gone to the other panera bread before they closed if they were honest up front that they were out of food. Then when I went to get a refund from general manager Meghan. She couldn't give us a refund on the tax. Then the grill cook said to her, hey we are gonna throw these sandwiches out we made for them do you want to just give them to the customer. Megan says no, meanwhile she can't refund us for the total amount. She had a bad attitude. Then I called their district manager thay did t answer his phone or called back. But he sure answered his phone for the unprofessional manager working. . This place wasted my family s time and k ew they were out of food but had no problem taking our money and ignoring the problem at hand Then made it to late for us to get food at their other store. Stop shopping these...